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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Chooky affairs!

One of my bantam chooks has not been well. She looked really good but after doing some research on why chooks have a lump on their breast we learnt a lot about chicken anatomy.

Rosie had a lump on her chest about the size of a tennis ball each night. We learnt that chickens fill their crop (the first stage of their digestive system) really well just before going to roost so they "last" the night without food. Usually by morning the crop is empty and they happily go off and eat. Rosie's crop was not empty in the morning. After some extensive "natural learning" (lol) I started some simple therapy of massaging her crop in the morning and isolating her so she didn't get any food for 48 hours.

It was not looking good. After a visit to a not-so-local vet who was very good with chickens I found out that her nervous system had probably been affected by a virus similar to Herpes called Mareks and that her crop could not empty.

All of this, of course, had to happen over New Year's and all of its associated holidays. I have since been very busy giving her anti-biotics morning and night, syringing 10mls of apple cider vinegar solution into her 4 times a day, giving her fennel tea once a day and massaging her crop every time I hold her for one of these events. It has been very busy.

The good news (fingers crossed, prayers said) is that she has gained 65g in the last 5 days, her crop has gone down to about the size of a bantam egg and she is looking a bit chirpier. She is also becoming quite tame and cuddly. :)

I had intended to start "formal" school back last week but instead we have been doing a little formal school and a whole lot of natural learning about chickens and their digestive system and the responsibilities of owners towards their animals.

2 comments:

As for school...isn't that the beauty of home education. We just keep tweaking and adjusting and just when we think we know exactly what we're going to do "whammo" we're forced in a new direction! Or is that just me?!

Fascinating!And a life lesson for you. There is a balance somewhere out there between the formal and the natural learning.Hope Rosie is cackling again soon and have a good year whatever you are learning.

I am a mum of 4 young men who challenge me in many ways as I homeschool them and try to keep my home happy.
I like the principles of a literature based education with a whole lot of real life thrown in and believe in individualising my methods and even curriculum for each child as needed.
I try to remember that the blogging lens can be very good at showing only rainbows and not the mud that naturally comes with the rain. Here you will read about the real days of homeschooling too.

Great Quotes

Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each. - Plato

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. - Aristotle